The Biggest What If?
by AuthorChick96
Summary: Mom was alive, Al wasn't a suit of armor, Risembool was flourishing, and everything was just perfect. And everything was absolutely wrong at the same time. Ed gets a chance to see what his life would've been like if the Homunculus hadn't succeeded back in Xerxes, and everything seems great, but now he has to race against time to return to his own world before it's too late.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! I've had this idea sitting on my computer, and this is just the test chapter, really. I do wanna continue this, but here's kind of a preview of how the story would go. Tell me what you guys think!**

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Sunlight filtered into the room, hitting the blond teenager that was sprawled across the bed, face down. Edward's gold eyes fluttered open and he let out a contented sigh as he sat up, squinting against the light hitting his face, which he rubbed with both hands, and then froze.

He could _feel_ his right hand. He dug the nails of his right hand into his palm, wincing at the sharp pain. Ed brought his hands away from his face and stared at them; they were his, all right. But how could they be?

A knock on the door startled him so badly that he almost fell off the bed, but then something worse poked its head into the room.

"Brother, are you up yet? We're gonna be late."

 _Al . . ._ Alphonse Elric stood before his older brother in all his blond haired glory, looking exactly the same as he did all those years ago just before the transmutation. He was starting to look more like Trisha in as his face changed with the transition into adulthood, but the voice, the eyes, and even the way he raised an eyebrow at his brother were all the same.

"Are you okay, Ed? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Just . . ." Ed stammered to come up with an excuse, but Al made one up for him.

"Nightmare?" He asked.

Ed nodded, untangling himself from the sheets, shocked by the fact that his leg was no longer automail, but he did have a nasty scar around his thigh.

"Hurry and get dressed; Mom's got breakfast ready." Al said, turning away, and Ed saw the uniform he was wearing for the first time: a navy blue blazer, black slacks, a white button down shirt, and a striped tie, completed by the shiny shoes on his feet. Ed found a similar uniform laying out for him on the door to the wardrobe.

Ed took a minute to explore the room as he got dressed. His bed was huge, perfectly positioned to catch the rising sun in the spring and summer. Red and black bedclothes covered the mattress, which had to be at least two feet thick. The walls were sparsely decorated: one or two posters on each wall, one painting of a ship in a storm, and a couple of sconces on either sides of the headboard. There was the wardrobe on the same side of the room as the window, filled with a lot of clothes that Ed would have never worn willingly: fancy dress suits, a tux, and a white military dress uniform, each with its own pair of shoes. The dresser sat on the adjacent side, with clothes that Ed was more comfortable with: jeans, regular shirts, even his black leather ensemble. Several photographs were lined up on the surface, one of him and Al and Winry, all smiling at the camera, Winry with her arms around the boys; another of Ed, Al, and their mother, proudly showing off their first displays of alchemy; one of Ed and EJ, the redhead being carried bridal style by Ed with her arms around his neck, smiling, and one leg kicked high into the air.

Why would EJ be in these pictures? Ed thought about this as he tied his hair into its usual braid and made his way downstairs.

Al looked up from his waffles as his older brother entered the kitchen, tie slung around the collar of his shirt. He rolled his eyes.

"Did you forget how to tie it again?" He stood and came over to his older brother's side, fixing the tie for him while he protested heartily. "And straighten yourself up, Ed." He sat and went back to his breakfast. Ed sat in the seat next to him, fixing the collar of his shirt and making a face.

"You keep making that face it'll stick."

Ed almost choked as his eyes found the smiling face of his mother setting a plate of steaming waffles in front of him. On impulse, he stood up and wrapped his arms around her neck. Ed was surprised to find that he was taller than his mother by at least a half inch.

"Well, good morning to you too, sweetheart." Trisha laughed as she returned her sons unexpected hug. Ed found he couldn't say anything is response to that; all he wanted to do was start apologizing to her for all the mistakes he'd made and for dragging Al into it.

"Breakfast is getting cold, dear." Mom pulled away and ran her fingers through Ed's bangs, her smile a little wistful.

"You look more and more like your father every day." She kissed his cheek and walked back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up breakfast.

Ed sat down and ate, trying not to feel too stung by Mom's words; Ed wanted nothing to do with the b****d who'd walked out on them when he was a kid, and the fact that he kept seeing Hoenheim every time he looked in the mirror made that ache a little worse.

"Morning, boys!" said a voice behind them and Ed froze, whirling in his seat to see none other than Van Hoenheim strolling up from what Ed assumed was the basement.

"Did the door get stuck again Dad?" Al joked as Hoenheim wrapped him in a one armed chokehold.

"I figured it was good time to take a work break."

"Oh, there you are dear; I was getting worried." Mom came around the counter and set a pitcher of juice on the table before leaning down to give her husband a modest peck on the cheek. Hoenheim actually looked affronted.

"Dad . . . we talked about you and Mom being all lovey at the table." Al said, waving his fork around. Ed snorted into his juice, trying hard to keep the grin off his face.

"All right boys, stop laughing at your father and get to school; you'll be late!" Trisha scolded, though her cheeks were pink. Al glanced at the clock and jabbed Ed in the arm, swallowing his last bit of breakfast.

Ed followed his example and caught up to his little brother just as Al tossed a messenger bag at him from the hook by the door.

"Ed, you forgot something!" Trisha called after her eldest son. Ed turned back as Mom handed him a small box wrapped in shiny blue paper and tied with a silver ribbon.

"Tell EJ happy birthday from us, all right? And bring her over after school; I'll make something special just for her."

"Sure thing." Ed nodded, trying to keep the confusion off his face. Mom gave him one last hug and a kiss on the cheek before sending him out the door.

"I can't believe EJ's gonna be sixteen! Time really does fly, huh Brother?" Al wondered as the two of them wandered down the cobbled streets towards the school.

"It sure does." Ed kept glancing around; everything was where it should be, but at the same time Ed couldn't help but wonder if this is what Risembool would've looked like if the bombings during the Ishvalan War hadn't happened.

"And you know Winry is gonna have some new gadget or upgrade up her sleeve. Rockbell's Prosthetic Limb Outfitters is gonna make a name for itself in Central one of these days." Al said, side stepping to avoid some kids on bikes headed in the same direction.

Ed smiled at the thought that Winry was still just as much of a gearhead here as she was back . . . wherever Ed had come from.

The two boys entered the school yard and Al immediately ran towards a group of kids his age, hopping onto one of the tables clustered underneath free standing patio.

"Hey Edward!" said a girls voice, and Ed turned to see Winry waving at him by the doors to the school, surrounded by a few familiar faces that almost made Ed freeze up suspiciously.

"Hey guys; how's it going?" Ed sat down and placed the little box in his lap protectively.

"This morning has just been full of surprises;" Winry started to tick off on her fingers. "You're actually on time, Ling showed up, and Bradley hasn't been giving us any grief!"

"I wasn't gonna miss EJ's sweet sixteen; I'm a better friend than that!" Ling protested.

"You mean you weren't gonna miss the free cupcakes she's giving out to the second year class." Lan Fan said from behind her book. Her black hair was tied into a side bun instead of the top knot Ed usually saw her wearing, and her uniform was complimented by black tights instead of the knee highs Ed had seen on the other girls; Winry kept a small wrench tucked into hers.

"Hey, those are simply an added bonus!" The Xingese prince protested as footsteps came up behind them.

"And I made an extra batch just for you Ling."

"EJ, you're amazing." Ling fell back into the grass with a contented sigh as a warm body pressed up against Ed's side and wrapped arms around his own.

"Good morning, gorgeous." EJ playfully tapped Ed on the nose before kissing him full on the mouth. Ed froze, feeling the heat rush into his face and down his neck while his friends looked on yelling, "Gross!" "Not in front of everyone!" "Geez, EJ!"

EJ broke the kiss with a laugh and then looked at Ed in confusion; he'd only had that short circuited brain look once before: when they'd kissed the first time on a dare from Ling.

"Are you okay? You seem a little out of it this morning." EJ ran her thumb along Ed's cheek.

"Don't tell me you were up all night studying alchemy again." Winry scolded, reaching slowly for her wrench.

"No, no; it's just . . ." Ed wracked his brain for an excuse and came up with the perfect one. "You're the birthday girl; shouldn't I be doing that to you?" He moved the little present out of his lap in preparation for his next move.

"If you want—" EJ started, but Ed swung her around into his lap and kissed her before he lost his nerve.

"Oh come on!" Ling threw his hands in the air. "Once a day is bad enough with you two!"

"But . . . but it's my birthday." EJ suddenly curled into Ed's chest and put on a hurt face. The innocent image worked surprisingly well; with EJ's hair pulled into a high ponytail with ringlets bouncing around every which way and tied off with navy blue bow, eyes glistening like she was about to cry.

"You . . . you don't want me to have a happy birthday?" she sniffed. Ling immediately began to panic, waving his hands around.

"I – I didn't mean it like that!"

"Gotcha, Yao!" EJ taunted, causing the group to burst into laughter. "You really need to stop falling for that; I don't like to pull that card unless it's on Ed."

The bell for the start of school rang, causing groans to erupt from many of the students, but they still got to their feet.

"Is that for me?" EJ pointed to the box in Ed's hand.

"Yeah; Mom and Dad wish you a happy birthday." Ed was surprised at the ease in which "Dad" passed over his tongue; how was he so comfortable calling Hoenheim such a familial term? It wasn't like the guy was a family man himself; who walks out on his family without saying goodbye, disappears for ten years, and then shows up only to explain behind closed doors that the thing you transmuted as a stupid, prideful kid wasn't even your mother in the first place?

"Ed, it's gorgeous!" EJ's voice broke through Ed's thought process. She was dangling a gold "E" necklace set with blue stones in the air, cheeks pink with excitement. She turned and presented the back of her neck to Ed.

"Put it on me?"

Ed fumbled with the clasp for a second before looping it around EJ's neck and clicking it in place.

"Ed, I love it." EJ slipped her hand into Ed's and intertwined their fingers. "But we better go, otherwise the principal is gonna have our butts." She pulled Ed along behind her into the school.

Mom was alive, Al wasn't a suit of armor, Risembool was flourishing, and everything was just perfect.

And everything was absolutely wrong at the same time.

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 **And there you have it! I'm working on more chapters for my other stories as we speak, so be on the lookout for those! Thanks again for all of my followers and reviewers!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow! I was not expecting that! Well, since you guys liked it so much, I went ahead and wrote another chapter! I'm not sure how many chapters I'm gonna have in this story, but I'm hoping it'll only be like five or six.**

 **Anyway, on to the story!**

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 **Chapter 2**

 _Just keep calm Ed; you start freaking out and you're gonna look suspicious,_ Ed thought as he and EJ walked through the halls. Ed saw a few more familiar faces as he passed by: there was the group of chimeras from the Devil's Nest that Ed remembered hanging around with Greed; Havoc stopped to snuff out a cigarette before coming back inside and stepping into an empty classroom; Ed even spotted Hawkeye talking to Mustang.

"Ed, are you okay?" EJ asked. "You look a little pale."

"Actually . . ." Ed paused. How could he get out of this one?

"Maybe you should see the nurse?" EJ pressed the back of her hand to Ed's forehead. "You don't feel feverish."

"I'm uh, feeling a little woozy." Ed gestured vaguely over his shoulder to the restrooms.

"Okay, just hurry. I'm not gonna cover your as* in Mustang's class a fourth time." EJ winked and continued on, her ponytail bouncing as she walked.

Part of Ed wondered how he'd gotten so lucky to have EJ as his girlfriend; the other part was distracted by a large shoulder forcing him into the wall.

"Get'cha head out of the clouds there, Elric." A hand landed on the top of Ed's head and ruffled his hair, almost harshly.

"Ow!" He turned around and was shocked to see Greed of all people behind him. This must've been what his human form would've looked like; almost exactly the same but without the pointy teeth and weird purple eyes.

"If you're not careful, someone else is gonna come along and snatch up that little beauty, you lucky b***d." Greed walked off, and a very confused Ed ducked into the boy's room and into an empty stall. At least here he could have a proper panic attack without anyone asking questions.

"This can't be real; this isn't happening." Ed put his head in his hands, his mind trying to process everything he'd gone through in the past couple of hours. He dropped his bag and folded himself into the crash position as his stomach twisted, trying not to be sick. He was Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist! The Fullmetal Alchemist did _**NOT**_ get sick, except for one incident a few years ago that Ed had pushed to the back of his mind and refused to talk about.

"Just gotta think through this, Ed." The blond splashed some water on his face from the sink to help calm down. This wasn't a dream/ nightmare; Ed had slapped himself several times already to make sure. Was it possible he'd slipped into some kind of alternate dimension?

Nah; that was dumb, but it was plausible.

Or maybe everything was just a big hallucination and he was wandering aimlessly around Central with a glazed look in his eyes?

Again: dumb scenario.

Ed wandered out of the bathroom and down the halls, absently digging his thumbnail into his finger and not paying attention to where he was going when a hand snagged him by the collar of his shirt.

"Easy there, hotshot; you almost missed the room again." A familiar voice made Ed grit his teeth and hope to the powers that be that it didn't belong to the person he thought it did.

Unfortunately, when Ed was released, he was staring up into the smug mug of none other than Roy Mustang.

Though, this one looked much different. Instead of the stiff blue uniform of the military, Mustang wore a pair of black slacks and gray button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his black tie knotted loosely. His black hair was longer and slicked back away from his dark eyes, which held that same glimmer of "I know something you don't" that made Ed wanna knock the man's teeth out.

He raised an eyebrow at Ed's expression.

"What's with the face, Elric?" He asked, waving his hand in front of Ed's nose, just enough to get him to focus instead of being obnoxious. Ed shook himself and muttered, "It's nothing", before taking a seat next to a very pleased looking EJ.

The gold "E" around her neck was on proud display and a bunch of her girl friends were gawking at it, some with awe, others with something like jealousy.

"That is just too sweet! And it's awesome because it could represent either one of your names, since they both start with E." said one girl, blonde hair pulled up into high pigtails.

"You two are just too cute; if you guys ever broke up I think the whole school would go into mourning." Said a girl with short ginger hair and freckles across her cheeks and nose.

That's when the tall girl with dark curly hair spoke up from behind the group. She scoffed and tossed her hair over one shoulder, revealing a beautiful face with full lips painted a devilish red and also showing that her uniform didn't quite fit in the chest area. Ed focused his attention elsewhere, only to find the Greed lookalike scowling at him from the other side of the room.

"A little trinket like that is all well and good," the girl started, causing the EJ and her friends to turn around. EJ had her brow furrowed, making Ed wonder if there was some bad blood between them.

"But if Elric _really_ wanted to show how much he loved you, he'd give you something a bit more . . . exciting." Here, the girl made a show of removing her blazer and miming unbuttoning her shirt in a very seductive way, smirking at Ed while giving him a look up and down.

EJ's face turned a bright cherry red, both from embarrassment and also anger(Ed's face was burning a bright red as well); she surged out of her seat and marched toward the dark haired girl, fists clenched.

"You know what, Solaris? You can take your 'excitement' and shove it up your—!" EJ started, but Mustang called out for the class to settle down, looking pointedly at the two girls about to get into a cat fight; EJ had Solaris' shirt in one hand.

The name Solaris struck a chord in Ed's brain; that was the name Lust had chosen for herself when she was undercover, according to what Havoc had told him. Ed glanced over his shoulder at the girl; she met his gaze and licked her lips, forcing a shiver down Ed's spine.

"Now that everyone has calmed down – Ms. Samuels—we can get started." Mustang sent a look towards EJ and she let out a breath to signal that she'd gained control of her anger. Ed was surprised by her control; he had a similar reaction any time someone made a comment about his height.

"But without the automail," Ed thought to himself, subtly flexing his right hand, "there's nothing to weigh me down and stop me from growing."

Mustang started to drone about the history of Amestris, and Ed tuned him out until he said something about Xerxes.

"Eventually the people of Xerxes migrated into other countries, bringing their culture and their knowledge of alchemy to areas such as Xing and Amestris. And in the case of Mr. Elric over there –forgive me in advance for picking on you, Ed – they also brought some of their genetics."

"And a good thing too, huh Samuels?" a voice jeered from the back of the room. EJ balled up a piece of paper and lobbed it at the speaker, throwing with enough force to send the boy out of his chair and onto the floor.

The class erupted into giggles; EJ turned back around with a very satisfied smirk and sent a wink in Ed's direction. Mustang shook his head and leaned against his desk.

"All right, all right. Let's move on—" Mustang got the class back under control when someone knocked on the door.

"Ah, Mr. Grumman. To what do we owe this pleasure?" Mustang greeted the old man who stepped through the doorway. His hair and his mustache were gray with age, but his eyes were bright with cunning behind wire framed glasses. He held a goldenrod piece of paper in his hand, the other held behind his back.

"Forgive me for interrupting Mustang, but the headmaster asked me to give this to one of your students." Grumman's look of confusion was reflected onto Mustang's face as he read the notice.

"Ed, the headmaster is asking for you." Mustang handed the note over to the teenager, who took it with slightly shaky hands. That wasn't like him; Ed had gotten called to the headmasters at least twice and had never shown that he was nervous.

"What'd you do?" EJ asked as Ed gathered his things, trying to get his shaking hands under control. He just shrugged and followed Grumman out the door.

"I'm certain you've done nothing wrong, son; the headmaster simply wishes to speak with you." Grumman reassured Ed as the two of them walked down the halls. They passed quite a few open doorways, and Ed made the mistake of catching the eye of one student who looked to be in his last year. When the two made eye contact, Ed felt his heart stop; he was staring right into the face of none other than King Bradley. A much younger version yes, but Ed could recognize that haughty look anywhere.

"Something wrong?" Grumman's hand on Ed's shoulder shook him out of his shock.

"No; no I'm fine." Ed rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling a small headache forming. The two continued down the hall until Ed was about to drop from exhaustion, but Grumman ushered him through the last door and shut it.

The lady sitting at the desk stopped writing when the door clicked shut, raising a pair of sherry colored eyes to Ed's gold ones. Her dark blonde hair was pulled back into a clip, and Ed wondered if she was hiding a handgun somewhere under the desk in case of an emergency. The plaque on her desk read 'R. Hawkeye' in gold letters.

"Edward! I'm surprised to see you here." Hawkeye commented, standing up and knocking on the big door behind her. She seemed just as confused as everyone else.

"Sir, Mr. Elric is here."

"Send him in, if you would?" a polite voice said from the other side. Hawkeye opened the door and Ed slipped in, handing the paper in his hand off to the former lieutenant.

Ed was greeted by an office bigger than the Fuhrer's back in Central, which was saying a lot since the Fuhrer's office was already the largest one in the Command Center. Windows made up one wall, drapes covering the top halves so the room wasn't as bright as it should've been with the sun coming in through the glass. One half of the office was occupied by a couch and a few armchairs around a coffee table, some mugs still on the surface next to napkins covered in crumbs. The other half of the room was full of a desk with two chairs sitting in front of it, but behind it was large leather chair that Ed could only see the back of.

"Have a seat Mr. Elric. We have much to discuss you and I." the voice from earlier came from the chair. Ed swallowed and mentally pleaded: "please don't be Tucker; please don't be Tucker; please don't be Tucker" while he lowered himself into one of the chairs.

The chair spun so Ed could finally see who was sitting in it, and he let out a relieved breath that it wasn't Tucker's lookalike. Instead, the man in the chair had short, dark hair combed across his forehead and bright green eyes that held no nonsense look; the same look that Teacher wore when she had been training Ed and Al as kids.

"Enjoying yourself today?" The man said, folding his hands on the desk.

"I'm – uh – not sure what you mean." Ed replied, feeling like something was amiss. The way the hairs stood up on the back of his neck stood up was proof of that. The headmaster snapped his fingers and everything stopped: the ticking of the clocks, the water in the cooler, even the sound of Hawkeye scratching away on the other side of the door stopped.

"What did you do?" Ed tried to leap out of the chair, only to find that he was strapped down. When had that happened?

"Calm down, son; I just want to be able to speak with you without any interruptions." The man stood and Ed saw just how tall he actually was: at least as tall as Major Armstrong, but with less muscle and (thankfully) without the tendency to rip his shirt off.

"And where are my manners? I haven't introduced myself. Call me Dante; all my friends do." Dante dragged the chair over to one of the windows with Ed struggling to get loose; in the better lighting, Ed could see that he wasn't tied down at all. Dante was somehow keeping him in the chair without ropes.

"Now, down to business." Dante cracked his knuckles, and then folded his arms as if waiting for Ed to get with it.

"Okay, I have questions, but number one is this: what in the he** is happening to me right now? All I know is that everyone thinks that this is normal, but I am so confused!" Ed yelled, feeling his headache coming back with more force than before.

"Asking the right questions. Tell me something: have you ever asked yourself: 'What if?'" Dante got into Ed's face and clapped two slender and cold hands over Ed's own.

The question felt like a punch in the face; of course Ed wondered "what if?" What if he and Al hadn't tried human transmutation? What if Hoenheim hadn't abandoned them when they were kids? There were so many what if's floating around in his brain it was a wonder he got to sleep at night.

"All the time; Al wouldn't be a suit of armor, and I'd still have my arm and leg." Ed heard himself say.

"Ah, but think back even further." Dante said, finally backing up to give Ed some space. "What if . . . the Ishvalan genocide had never happened? What if . . . there was never a reason for you to perform human transmutation? What if – and this is the kicker—what if the Homunculi had never existed?"

"How do you - I - I don't understand." Ed said once he managed to pick his jaw up off the ground.

"Of course, because it's never crossed your mind, has it?" Dante turned and pulled one of the curtains back, letting in more of the light and causing Ed to squint against the brightness.

"But that world you've been walking in since you woke up this morning is the result of that what if." Dante gestured to the window, allowing Ed to come stand beside him. Spread out below the window was Risembool, but it flickered almost like a mirage: sometimes the bustling city, other times the green grassy fields Ed was used to. The flickering only served to make Ed's headache worse and he pressed a hand to his forehead, knowing that it wouldn't help to alleviate the pounding on the inside of his skull but following the natural reflex.

Dante steered Ed back to the desk and eased him into the remaining chair, returning to place a glass of water in front of the teenager.

"I'd give you something for the headache, but the only medication I have is strong enough to knock out a full grown man; I can only imagine what would happen to someone at your age."

"What are you implying, old man?" Ed hissed, gulping the water down.

"Nothing, nothing; but while I have you here," Dante interlaced his fingers and leaned forward, looking suspiciously like Mustang in that moment, and it made Ed swallow in apprehension.

"I have a little business proposition for you."

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 **Dun dun dun! I'm already plotting the next chapter, so be on the lookout! If you have any questions feel free to drop me a line either in the reviews or on my Tumblr site: sady - is - secretly - an - alchemist . tumblr . com (minus the spaces; the dashes are apart of my user name.)**

 **Thank you all again for reading!**


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